Hilmar Cheese offering scholarships

Hilmar Cheese Co. is accepting applications for its 11th annual college scholarship program.

The program is open to high school seniors and college students who have an agricultural major and are living in counties where Hilmar Cheese is located -- Merced and Stanislaus counties as well as Dallam and Hartley counties in Texas, according to a news release from Denise Skidmore, the company's director of education and public relations.

Hilmar Cheese also offers scholarships to children of employees and dairy farm families that produce milk for Hilmar Cheese, according to Skidmore.

Scholarship winners are selected by academic performance, financial need, community activity and future ambitions, according to Skidmore.

Qualifying students can apply through March 15.

For additional information about Hilmar Cheese's scholarship program, visit www.hilmarcheese.com, go to the "about us" tab and click on the "community responsibility" link.

-- Mike North